Bournemouth Borough Council Bill [Lords]

My hon. Friend is being unfair. I hope that the sponsors of the Bill will accept that that is an error. That would be a modest but welcome concession. Clause 5 lays out several things that a person must do""at all times while…trading"" or "otherwise occupying any location". Amendment 16 would insert the words "acting as a pedlar" after "at all times while", so that we would not restrict the ambit of the rules and responsibilities relating to pedlars. Acting as a pedlar includes offering one's goods for sale so that people may look at them and discuss what is available—it might even involve taking an order to be delivered on a subsequent occasion. The amendment would add clarity and precision to the Bill. Amendment 17 would remove all the restrictions in proposed new sub-paragraph (e), which would help to clarify the Bill. We know what activity is legitimate activity for a pedlar, and to define that activity more narrowly would contradict the express statement of the Opposed Private Bill Committee that nothing it did would amend the definition of pedlar. That was its intention as stated in paragraph 1119 on page 63 of the transcript of day two, which quotes the Chairman as saying:""We are not attempting to redefine peddler."" However, there is an attempt to redefine pedlar, which is raising all sorts of concerns and suspicions among pedlars. Amendments 29 and 30 relate to the point that I made earlier about the benefits of using the words "position" or "positions" rather than "location" and "locations". The same is true of amendment 31. Amendment 18 would leave out "bona fide" on page 4, line 4 in clause 5, which instead of referring to customers, talks about bona fide customers. I am not sure that it will be easy for people to find out who is a bona fide customer. The provision states:""Nothing in sub-paragraph (2A)(b) to (d)…disqualifies any person from occupying a location within a minimum distance for the purpose of trading if…he so occupies it on the request of a bona fide customer"." Does that mean that the customer has to complete a purchase for the pedlar's position to be validated? How is any observer of the scene to assess whether the customer is bona fide?